HijiGin - Bittersweet

Chapter 12

For the whole morning, Hijikata was out of it. He crashed into poles and missed crimes that happened right in front of him during his patrol, signing every document with a 'Gintoki' and even forgetting to add mayonnaise to his meals. Everyone knew that something was wrong, but didn't dare ask Hijikata in case they piss him off.

Kondo-san, being the dense leader he is, thought that maybe Hijikata was still mourning over the loss of Okita (to which he is still slightly impacted by), and told everyone to give him some space. It was a plausible theory so they all nodded and left Hijikata in peace. However, although Okita's death still lingers in Hijikata's memories, he's mainly distracted by the erotic dream he had last night.

He seriously couldn't believe he dreamt of something like that, and, what's even more shocking is the fact that he acknowledges this. After a long, and I mean long period of thinking, he's come to one conclusion.

I'm in love with Gintoki.

---

Meanwhile, Gintoki hasn't had the luck and leisure to relax like that. No, he had been enduring the pain inflicted upon him by the dweller inside his body. His mind was tenacious, but it was just a matter of time before his wall of defence will be destroyed.

Escape was futile, he knew because once, he tried to block out the soul-dweller. I can assure you it ended very badly, causing more damage to himself than anything, really. So now Gintoki, who's already worn out and half-dead, thinks about his last resort.

Giving up.

  Giving up has always been a big part of Gintoki's life. He's seen people doing it, but he has never done it himself. It was the easy way out, being the last thing you can do, the way a coward would choose to take.

And he took it.

---

  A figure could be seen, crouching in a glass building. He stared at the dull, gray sky with an amused expression woven on his face. He slowly moved his finger and touched the cold, hard glass and slowly slid it down.

  "Soon..."

  A smile crept its way onto his face and his mouth twisted into a Cheshire Cat grin.

  "The time is coming...and then you'll forever be gone."

--- Back to Hijikata ---

Kondo-san couldn't figure out what was wrong with Hijikata, so he decided to let him take the day off and relax. And, for once, Hijikata didn't reject the idea. He wandered to places where Gintoki might be at, but there was no such luck. After all, he can't just expect him to suddenly appear in Otose's bar and wave him over for a few drinks and pretend like nothing's ever happened.

  No, that'd be too idealistic. However, he does decide to carry out a secret investigation to do some digging around on whatever he can find. He didn't want to ask anyone for help because they're already stressed as it is, so he conducted it alone.

  He asked around and interviewed people who are acquainted with Gintoki, which there is surprisingly a lot. They range from your average citizen to those who you never thought would be associated with Gintoki.

  But even as he'd just ask a few simple questions like 'when was the last time you saw Gintoki', or 'has he said anything to you in his last visit', they'd express their concern and ask if Gintoki's alright.

  He felt guilty about having to reassure them with a white lie, but the last thing he needed was for more delays and distractions. He couldn't afford to be side-tracked now. His investigation went on for a good 3 days before finally discovering some sort of lead.

  On his third day, he saw a Madao sitting on the park bench and vaguely remembered seeing him and Gintoki talking, so he went up to him and asked him a few questions. Turns out, the man did know something.

  He stated that he's seen Gintoki around 2 days ago, loitering around the park, so he went up to him and invited him to play pachinko together. The silver-haired man, however, took no interest and completely ignored him.

  Hasegawa (the name which the Madao had later told Hijikata) thought he was a bit off on that day but didn't bother to question him further. He couldn't recall anything more and shook his head when asked if he knows where Gintoki's current location is.

He did, however, briefly mention that the silver-haired man was sweating and in pain, walking in a drunken manner and that his eyes were an odd shade of red, unlike his usual ruby orbs. Hijikata thanked the man for the information and carried on his private investigation.

After a few hours of useless conduction, he spotted some blood in an alleyway. It wouldn't be too uncommon to find blood laying around, but it caught Hijikata's eyes because there was a huge pool of blood. There was a bloody corpse within close proximity to it, too.

Hijikata cautiously made his way to the pool of blood, noticing how it's still very fresh. He then approached the corpse and inspected it, noticing a pulse...a faint one. He gave the man a few gentle slaps before earning a groan in response.

"Shiro...yasha..."

  Shiroyasha? Isn't that...Hijikata soon dawned upon the realisation that his feared suspicion had been right all along. Shiroyasha, the man who had once earned himself all the fame and glory. The one who every enemy knew of, and, the one who had disappeared mid-war. Otherwise known as, Gintoki.

  Hijikata heard a loud, ear-piercing scream and immediately took off in that direction. He knew who, or rather what would be waiting for him at the other side. He could only pray that Gintoki's not too far gone because he needed answers to everything.

If this is love, then why does it hurt so much...Gintoki?